4.03.2011

Press Replay

“People today are still living off the table scraps of the 60’s. They are being passed around – the music, the ideas”

Bob Dylan

I knew the late 60’s early 70’s were extraordinary; as much as an adolescent can articulate, I was aware I was smack dab in the middle of unconventional times. My mind darted from the chilling images of the Vietnam War brought before our dinner plate each evening by the grandfatherly face of Walter Cronkite, to fantasizing about being a cool Brit with the doe-eyed face of young model names Twiggy.

It was 1968, my father was taking his first high school band on a whirlwind European Tour. I would have given my training bra to be seen in one of the polyester red, white & blue striped mini dresses the ‘band-girls' were wearing. Oh to be boarding that massive DC-8 headed to swinging London with all those hot blooded teens, only to hit up Carnaby street in a pair of hot-pants once we landed. But I was not quite 12 and I was land-locked with my robust Norwegian grandmother, Inga and the Colonel (granddad) Albert in charge.

In those times two of our three media outlets were filled with the reports and images of Richard Nixon, Simon & Garfunkel, Sonny and Cher; then Warhol, acid-colors, the first heart transplant, Hendrix, Joplin, mini’s to maxi’s, the twist to Pink Floyd, Vonnegut and Kent State, moon launches and political assassinations. Radio built the story and your imagination would fill in the visual blanks.

I was an impressionable girl who went from the mid-60’s wearing navy blue rubber toed Keds (sneakers) to the late sixties with my fishnet tights and crinkle patent leather shoes (lime green) with Pilgrimish brass buckles. The early 70’s brought on the leather fringe vests, gaucho pants and bell bottoms so wide you could be swept up by a westerly wind and take flight as if you were Sally Field as the 'Flying Nun'. I thought I was so very Mary Tyler Moore or the other Mary, British Mary Quant. I could feel that there had never been a time like this before. Free love, rebellion and hippies were sprouting up everywhere and everyone, including my parents, was cool.

Tanks for the cruise down memory lane! Those were my days, I this was a perfect image of that time.Things really are beginning to appear again. So funny.Hope that your APril is off to a great start, Deb!Teresaxoxo

Deb, leave it to Bob Dylan to summarize perfectly. I loved all those skimpy swimsuits, hair ornaments, tons of hanging things around the neck. You know the saying, "if you wore it the 1st time, you're too old to wear it the 2nd time." :)

i was watching a sherlock holmes movie last night with christofer plummer and james mason, and a donald sutherlund {sp?}.....i was trying to guess the year it was made by the interpretations of the era....there were touches of paisley in the wall decor and in the clothing which dated it from 1967 - 1974.

we can never really go back to an era that was exactly as it should have been.there will never ever be another time like that!

Oh Deb,As you know, I was in the thick of things in the Swinging Sixties in London.....wearing Biba and Mary Quant with a little bit of Laura Ashley thrown in for good measure and dancing my way through the clubs of old London town !!! We have just come back from dinner with the children as it's Mother's Day here in the UK and, there was a girl on the next table who was having her 30th birthday and she was wearing bell bottom trousers in a tiny floral print and a denim jacket.....exactly what I was wearing in the '60's !!!!It was a great time but, I think that there is some wonderful fashion and music today and I have to move on, even though that the '60's was a great era. Lots of love to you Deb.... a wonderful, nostalgic post. XXXX

I was sitting in a little diner yesterday having lunch and Don McLean's Bye Bye Miss American Pie came on the radio. My husband and I both laughed, because we knew every word and knew exactly where we were when that song came out!

Deb, This is quite where our hearts still live and I loved revisiting all of it here. I think I had the same shoes in black with the buckles. I felt the same about Twiggy and tried for the fabulous haircut but it was done all wrong! Your musical Dad must have seemed like such a groovy dude taking the 'band-girls' to London. How wonderful! Thanks again Deb for another heartfelt tour. oxo B+B

What a great post - I remember everything!! I had fishnet stocking in electric blue and orange to coordinate with all my color block dresses (guess what the fashion theme this spring is?), a Carnaby Street sign over my desk and Jeannie Shrimpton inspired Yardley lipsticks in pearl white and silver blue (check out the latest Chanel colors). My eldest was born in the wrong era - he is a 60s boy through and through and has been listening to Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and the Grateful Dead forever - although I don't know how he would manage without the internet and texting!!

How well you've evoked an era. I would have gladly forgone the 70s to wear the 60s clothes (yours sound perfectly sassily chic). I'm inclined now to pop upstairs for my pink bell-bottoms with lime-green trim and raise a nostalgic chardonnay and bread-stick your way.

Oh my gosh...,I had a suede halter top, fishnets AND white go-go boots...not all worn at once mind you! When I was little...I loved to drive around with my parents and try to spot hippies...kind of like slug-bug today, there were a lot of them too (in LA)! Love that your dad was representing Snohomish back in the day...how very cool!! Didn't know he was such a swingin dude!Cute post Deb....xoxo J~

Gaucho pants, fishnet hose, Mary Tyler Moore....I wanted to be her, in her apartment with Rhoda upstairs, running out in the street throwing my tam in the air. Thanks for the nice trip down memory lane. A trip into Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie makes me wish I'd kept all my old stuff to sell today or hand down to my daughter. She might just think I WAS cool after all.

'Those were the days my friendWe thought they'd never endWe'd sing and dance forever and a dayWe'd live the life we chooseWe'd fight and never loseFor we were young and sure to have our way.'

As we are exactly the same age Deb, & even though we were on other sides of the globe in '68 we were wearing the same things. Mary Quant Black Mascara, white fishnet stockings, cream slingbacks with a low heel & paisley mini-dress with bell sleeves. Big sigh for those days.Millie x

Bravo for your post! My sentiments exactly....to day these designers (fashion and interiors) try so hard to emulate an area that was so free, innovative and wild...my favorite being Biba...I am more a product of the disco days, when wearing a fluo bikini and platform shoes to the Ibiza clubs was the norm! I think to day one would be arrested.

The 60's were certainly a fascinating era (and more my kids' than mine), but I was still young enough to enjoy the fashions, if not the politics. There WERE lots of good things, fun things to remember, Deb, and I thank you for reminding me!Remakes rarely work, in movies, clothes or decorating. Why not be original? But perhaps everyone thinks those were the "good ole days" and want to bring them back.

Hi dear DebI always loved the clothing of that era... although find some of it I still love.. but some of the 70's retro now should have been left back there!! Love your training bra reference.. perfectly captures your age reference to this period.. and how we felt about wanting to be like the big girls in their striped mini dresses

You are, quite simply, the best LOVE your posts, so very true in this one, they can try all they want, but you are SO right about having had to be there.I hope you are well, think of you often!Nathalie

Deb,You captured our growing up years so perfectly! I love the way you write and capture life!I could never wear hip hugging bell bottoms because my bottom was too wide! hehe Oh but the memories. I did have the long straight hair though!xxoo

When I was a girl/early teen I used to imagine I was a mod chick in swinging 60's London. I just thought that there couldn't have been a cooler place or time than that. I listened to 60's music and swooned over the Beatles and The Who. I just loved the idea of it all (and still do). I lived for all the TV shows, etc. Funny postscript - a couple of years ago when I lived in NYC I went to the big Psychedelic/Woodstock (can't for the life of me remember what the exhibit was called) at the Whitney Museum, I was so excited to see all the cool art, etc. They had interactive rooms where you could see the psychedelic movies and hear the music, etc. Well, all I'll say is I left that exhibit thinking "Wow, those hippies were some effed up people. That stuff didn't even make sense to me." LOL! I guess you had to be high AND be there - ha ha ha!!!! In all seriousness, it was very eye opening, both good and bad. I still totally dig those groovy 60's though and always will! Another fab post my dear!!! xoxoxo

What a fabulous post! I was only a few years behind you, I remember this all and loved walking down the halls of school with my larger than life bell bottoms wrapping around my legs with every step!! Janell

Hi Deb, remember when you FINALLY started your period, (odd name for it huh?) their were only two choices... Kotex and Tampax and we were sure that you have had to have sex to wear Tampax. lmao. Gridles? I do remember the hose, the wonderful hose you got in a box with tissue. Really great memories thanks Deb.

Growing up in the hot Arizona desert, I lived in homemade halter tops and cut-offs that were so short, they barely had a crotch! I don't think I wore shoes all summer long! This made for easy streaking through Chuck Lewis' front yard :) My hair was kept clean and shiny via swimming pool chlorine & sun-in. The perfect tan was achieved with a combination of baby oil and an Earth Wind and Fire album wrapped in aluminum foil. Jovan Musk Oil for date nights and expensive Revlon Charlie Perfume for everyday. Jewelry of choice was whatever I had purchased that summer in California or my standard puka- shells! Yep, I was a wild one. Pretty too! Great post Deb. You always get us thinking!XoLisa

What a fascinating and eye candy of a post. Talk about a great tribute to the fascinatig era of the 60's! This is worth saving..you captured the essence so well!! I don't know of a recent decade where culture and design came on so strong and remained that way as much as it did in the 60's, I mean seriously who wants to remember anything about the 70's, 80's or even 90's? Blah, blah, blah! So happy to have stumbled across your blog! I am your newest follower..And please stop by me too....I have a 3 month old blog about the building of our home and my love for decor/design.www.theenchantedhome.blogspot.com

I loved every minute of this, thoseswere some wild times. I would still have that gorgeous wheat and glass table, it is such a classic. Great post. Thanks so much for all the effort you put in it. yvonne

Hello:We were there!! This is 'fantastic' - witty, highly readable and superbly presented. We are delighted to have discovered your amazing blog via A Bloomsbury Life. We are signing up immediately so as not to miss more!

I am just loving your new look (has it been that long?) shame on me :) anyway, your post is just dah-ling and I was very entertained. The part about you'd give your training bra was smile worthy. Everything always comes back, but better and a little wiser. Loving the wallpaper in the interiors collage! XO, Kelly

Dearest DEB! Oh those were the days! 1968...I was 10. Civil Rights Movement, riots in my streets in Southwest L.A., but the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Twiggy and all of the fabulous memories you show us here kept us hoping for something wonderful. Oh how true; you can only emulate but never replicate. THANK YOU for visiting me with such kind words. Life gets busy, so it is hard to visit everyone, but it sure is nice when you see a sweet friend from the past come by. Much thanks and enjoy your springtime, wherever you are!!!! Anita

High Deb!(play on wordsAS I sit here listening to Ravi Shankar and Dylan burning my insence gettin in my groove, all I can say is you should have just snuck on that plane and gone........Such cute pictures....I totally agree looking at the interpretations of the rooms done now don't quite cut the mustard, I think they might not have the fragrance right? And where are all these print dresses coming from????? Been there done that! They look like a bad "trip" to me YEEECH!Fun post. I have to go put on some Mamas and Papas.....xo Maryanne

It sounds like such a fascinating era to be part of, that I would have love to have experienced. I agree that it can never be reproduced quite like it was. But I think that fashion likes to modernize the past a bit, mix and match, which doesn't always do justice to that time, now does it? I absolutely love looking at old photos of my mom...in her cheerleader days, mini skirts, flirting with all the boys :)

Such a great post and amazing photos of an earlier time! Hope you are having a great week!